yan allen



(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1".

W. VAN ALLEN.

SELF GLOSING HATGHWAY.

N0.278,204. v Patented May 22,1883. I

N. PETERs PhoIa-L'flhcgnpho'. Washinghan. 0,04

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.-

G. W. VAN ALLEN.

SELF GLOSING HATGHWAYQ No. 278L204. Patented May 22,1883.

N. PEYERS. Phuh-Lilhognpher. Wnhinglan. DJ;

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE,

GEORGE W. VAN ALLEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO MARTIN B.

BROWN, ()F SAME PLACE.

SELF-CLOSING HATCHWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent No. 278,204, dated May 22, 1883.

Application filed March 13,1883.

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known thatI, GEORGE W. VAN ALLEN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Closing Hatchways; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

These improvements relate to self-closing hatchWa-ys in which the mechanism conne cted with and operating the hatchway-doors is separate and distinct for each floor.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of one set of the hatchway-doors constructed according to my improvements, looking down at the doors when they are in a closed position. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional side view of the same, taken in the line a: a" of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical rear view of the same. Fig.4 is a vertical side view of two sets of such hatchway-doors, the upper set representing the doors in a closed position and the lower set representing them in an open position, with the elevator-car passing through the hatchway. Fig. 5 is a detached view of a tension -device used with my improved mechanism to aid in closing and holding closed the hatch-.

way-doors.

The improvements relate more especially to a better combination, arrangement, and construction of the devices shown in the Letters Patent granted to A. B. See on the 14th day of July, 1874;, and numbered 153,121. The combination, arrangement, and construction of specific devices herein shown and described, however, give a more efficient and durable mechanism, both for opening and, for closing and holding in a closed position the hatch waydoors. Each set of hatchway-doors is so connected by mechanism that the one half thereof will be Worked directly and the other half indirectly byoperating mechanism connected to the hinge of one of said doors, and such lastmentioned mechanism in turn is operated by the passage of the elevator-car up-and down through the hatchway, as set forth in said See patent. The construction and arrangement of the parts, however, are substantially and materially different, rendering them more positive in their operation, the doors being more (No model.)

directly operated upon and their weight being better counterbalanced than heretofore. These various changes will now be fully described, so as to distinguish the new from the old.

a is the upper arm, and'bis the lower arm, with which the rail or bar 00f the elevator-car comes in contact in passage up or down of the car through the hatchway. On the rear of this lower arm, b, I place a segmental gear, d, the upper arm, a, having another arm, 0, forming, as it were, a bell-crank connection therewith, which arm 6 of the bell-crank is in turn connected to the arm I) by an intermediate arm, f. This armf has shoulders where it is pivoted at each end, respectively, to the arm 0 and arm 0, so that the motion upward of arm a and the motion downward of the arm 6 is limited thereby, thus enabling the folding inward of arms a and b and of the said arm f while the elevator-car is passing through the hatchway, as seeuin Fig. 4, at the lower set of batchway-doors, and the subsequent unfolding thereof to the extent of closing fully the doors after the passage through of the car, as seen at the upper set of hatchway-doors in the same figure. The moving upward of the arm 1) causes its segmental gear (I to rotate the gear-wheelg, placed on the end of oneot'the hinge-pins of one ofthe hatchway-doors. This causes the said door to be rotated or drawn downward, and at the same time fold itself into two sections, the inner section or member of the door being retained during such movement by the stoprods 1, 2, 3, and 4, which serve to support the door when in a closed position, as in said See patent. otherportion of the doors through connecting mechanism-such as cranks h h and connecting-rod t'-so that both of said hatch way-doors shall be opened at the same instant, substantially as seen and described in said See patent.

It will be seen that the passage of the car The same motion is imparted to the downward through the hatchway causes this same foldingup of the hatchway-doors by first operating upon the arm a, by reason of which a positive and direct motion is communicated to one end of the hinge of one side of the set of doors through the arm 6, intermediate arm, f, and arm I), the latter now operating merely as an intermediate medium for working its segmental gear. At the rear of the hinge ot' the set of doors containing this cog-wheel g is placed a tension device, which I shall now proceed to describe.

jj is a divided shaft journaled in bearings 7c is immediately in the rear of the hinge of that side of the set of doors which is operated by the arms (6 and I). To the end of the member 7' is connected a pinion-wheel, l, which gears with the cog-wheel g on the end of doorhinge. The memberj of the divided shaft is bored out at its inner end, so as to permit of the smaller inner end of the member having free rotation therein as within a socket. Around the periphery of these two members I and "is laced a s )iral s )rin we so arran ed that when the hatchway-doors o'pen downward the end j will be rotated and coil up said spring. On the passing out of the way of either arm (0 or b the tension on this spring at will at once draw the doors into a closed position. At the stationary but free end of this divided shaft is attached an ordinary ratchet-wheel, a, and pawl 0, with which, by means of the attached handle 1), a different initial tension can be placed on or taken off the spring m, so that the doors are enabled to close themselves with more or less force after the elevatorcar has passed away from the arm a or b, and be held closed with greater or less force; Light or heavy doors may thus be easily provided with the proper counter-balance at the putting in of the apparatus.

I claim- 1. The combination of the arm a, segmental arm I), and intermediate connecting-arms eand f with a hatchway-door, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of the divided shaft j j, spring m, pinion l, and gear-wheel giwith a hatchway-door, substantially as and for'the purpose described.

3. The combination of the divided shaftjj,

spring m, ratchet n, pawl 0 and handle 19, pinion 'l, and gear-wheel g with a hatchway-door, substantially as and for the purpose described. L. The combination of the arm a, segmental arm b, connected to each other by the armse and f, and the gear-wheel g, with a hatehway-door and tension mechanism connected therewith, substantially asdescribed.

' GEORGE \V. VAN ALLEN. Witnesses:

JAMES H. HUNTER, BERTIE II. MAnsnALL. 

